Looping
by Tornado Ninja Fan
Summary: You know the plot: Character X is sent back to the beginning of the story to make everything better The Second Time Around. But what if that happens over and over and over again? People get a bit loopy. Based on the "Time Loops" by Innortal
1. Akane

Looping

You know the plot: Character X is sent back to the beginning of the story to make everything better The Second Time Around. But what if that happens over and over and over again? People get a bit loopy. Then time begins to mutate… Crackfics.

Inspired by the "New Intros" and "Pig-Tailed Time-Loops" threads on TFF.

**Disclaimer:** This is a work of fanfiction written as a homage to the original works. No claim of ownership of Ranma 1/2 or other copyrighted works is intended.

Author's Note: This is my first fic and it shows. I think chapter 5 is the best one of the lot and it can be read on its own.

**Akane in the time-loops.**

"Fiancé?" Echoed through the living room of the Tendos.

"Yes. The son of a very good friend of mine..." Soun continued and Akane began to tune him out. It wasn't like she hadn't heard it all before.

And that was the problem. For some reason she had been repeating the following year for more than three hundred times now and she still had no idea why. She had asked every person that Ranma and her have met during the original year and a lot of other persons with supernatural abilities that she had met later. Most of them would deny that even the possibility of such an occurrence existed.

Each loop - as she had started to call the repeats - she found herself at the same moment in the past, shortly after her father had announced that a fiancé would arrive. She was in her original body with her long hair wearing the same clothes as the first time, sitting in the same position. She could still feel the sweat on her back and how exhausted her muscles were from her workout that had been interrupted by Kasumi or Nabiki who had told her that father had an announcement to make.

After these three hundred repeated years she could no longer remember which one of them had told her about it and she had never repeated that part of the past. She could still feel a faint trace of annoyance whenever she tried to remember that moment and that pointed to Nabiki. But sometimes Kasumi would try to make her more of a young lady and asked her to tone down her training a bit or simply looked at her with that slight frown. The latter left Akane always more frustrated than any of Nabiki's needling.

Soon they would hear the Saotomes crashing through the door, Ranma's apology and later the story of Jusenkyo. The loop would continue for a year ending shortly after the time of their first marriage attempt and then she would find herself again here with her sisters.

The first time it happened it was awkward, since nobody else remembered. But after she accepted the impossibility of it all at the beginning of the second loop, she attempted to create the perfect year for her.

It was very frustrating to find a level of martial arts so Ranma would respect her as a martial artist without him thinking that he had wasted spend ten years on his training trip, but after many loops of experimenting and grumbling she understood him and acted like she was about six months behind him.

Romantically, he left her to lead, which suited her fine. She thought she had created the perfect life when they married that one loop, but still found herself back at this day. Her sisters didn't understand why she broke out in tears, she was depressed for a whole year and Ranma ended up marrying Ukyo.

The next loops she tried to help all of their friends and she came back to this day, then everyone in school and she came back to this day, and then everyone in the whole world.

She was really surprised when she managed to create world peace.

And still it continued. Starting with the first loop she had tried every magical artifact of the Chinese Amazons, the Musk Warriors, the Phoenix People, the Italian Kunoichi, the Scottish Transvestites and the Kenyan Valkyries, but nothing helped.

Studying and mastering both magic and technology didn't help either and not even controlling her Ki beyond everything Ranma ever achieved brought her out of the loops. Dammit, she even became a Grandmaster of Martial Arts Swimming!

Every now and then she decided to become creative, instead of finding a way out.

Making Nabiki believe that Ranma was Sailor Moon without him ever noticing the "youmas" was a masterstroke in her opinion. As was the invasion of magically engineered Pokémon and blaming it on the Kunos. And fooling everyone into thinking that Kasumi defeated Godzilla. But she had no idea what went wrong with her Super Sentais. Luckily, the loop ended shortly after those idiots conquered New Zealand.

And now she was bored again. She noticed the time and heard a Panda crashing through the front door and expected the familiar sound of "Leggo, y' ol' fool!"

But that part never came. Getting curious, she decided to follow her sisters and stopped dead when she saw Ranma posing in the hall with his foot on an unconscious panda. While he was in his male form!

"Hello, I am Ranma Saotome. Sorry about this." He said with his usual cocky grin. It took a moment, but then she understood and smirked. "Hey. Join me in the practice hall?" she asked. He was surprised and she continued. "I'm Akane. You want to be friends?" This time he understood and smirked back.

This would be fun!


	2. Nabiki

**Nabiki in the time-loops.**

Another loop outside of mainstream accepted opinion...

* * *

Nabiki angrily sipped her lemon juice while her father rambled on about the arranged marriage. This was the three hundred and thirteenth time she had to listen to that drivel and she was thoroughly sick of it.

Back during the first couple of loops, she had enjoyed having the knowledge of future events. Especially during the second loop, when even the experience of seeing the same things for a second time was a novelty. The thrill of subtle variations of the things she said and did and the reactions of others! Knowing how to best manipulate her dates and getting a reputation as the Ice Queen of Nerima! Wrestling control of the betting market with outrageous bets and wins! And ending the loop by presenting him with the bill for a destroyed dojo was the icing on the cake.

And those fantastic rumors during the first loops! "She has cameras in every corner of the house!" "She controls the Japanese underworld!" "A demon has sold its soul to her!"

Of course there were setbacks. The martial artist prince who took her for a bride. The local oyabun who sold her as a slave. The ghost who violated her soul.

But she got back at all of them easily by arranging them to meet the idiot before they became dangerous to her and while they lost she took what she wanted and more.

Still, those things were dangerous and she was aware there could be bigger threats that might be able to destroy her sanity, making her unable to get her revenge on them. Back then she had decided that her sharp intellect was her best weapon and the place to sharpen this weapon would be university.

Getting there was easy. She just had to spend the end of one loop to collect last year's tests, scandals and passwords and next loop she was the best-informed wunderkind freshman of the world's most prestigious universities.

The problem was leaving Nerima behind, or more specifically, Ranma. The bane of her existence. Wherever she went, the cursed aquatranssexual martial artist idiot savant would appear and fight someone else with a ridiculous fighting style, leaving her place of education in ruins.

Study at Tokyo University? Ranma would fight a martial artist lawyer leaving the whole campus under an avalanche of red tape and the dean deciding to close the place for the year that it took to clean the place.

Kyoto? A fight with a martial arts baker, crushing the university under a dough with simply too much yeast.

All of Fukuoka was flooded with fish after a fight with a martial arts angler.

There was always an explanation how the idiot had ended at her university. A training trip that he always made during the loops. Her sisters visiting her and he "had" to accompany them at the order of their parents. Another student hearing her name, deciding to challenge the dojo and Ranma came to win the return match.

Even when she ran away from home to study under an assumed name, he would find her place because of simple coincidences. The student whose place she took during the loop, the professors, the other students, her landlords, salesmen - they all talked to her and then met other people than they would have had in the original timeline and it always led to a chain reaction ending with Saotome fighting another idiot at her school and destroying it in the process.

The worst part was that the further away she got from Nerima, the worse the destruction became. She still had nightmares of Ranma fighting with that red-clad blond in Los Angeles with the - in hindsight - scarily fitting nickname "Human Typhoon," the master of martial arts surfing.

She hadn't dared going to study anywhere in Europe, because that place might have ended joining Atlantis at the bottom of the sea.

After Los Angeles she had decided to give up on getting a formal education, but then she had realized that would have meant she had lost against that idiot!

She tried Tokyo University again, but it took her all year to get the martial arts lawyer from its grounds. Strangely enough, Ranma didn't destroy the grounds that loop, but she was too busy with martial arts rules lawyering to learn anything useful.

The next loop she needed one hour, but the following day the other students of the Law Dojo declared martial law and tried to find the next master of the school with an all-out brawl. Ranma intervened and once again the semester ended prematurely when the campus was covered knee deep in legal documents and was declared a fire hazard.

Evicting the Law Dojo in the next loop led to rival dojos invading and Ranma "helping" the innocent bystanders with now predictable results.

Trying the same in Kyoto had similar results. She didn't try Fukuoka. She still hated fish.

Directly starting a career was only a variation of the theme. She would blackmail her way to the top and stay there - sometimes her subordinates even respected her intellect - but it always ended when one of Ranma's fights got close to her business.

Those things couldn't be coincidences and they had only one thing in common. Ranma Saotome. He always acted innocent and he never reacted when she mentioned something from older loops or things that he shouldn't know yet. She still could manipulate him into all kinds of embarrassing, humiliating and disgusting situations. But that had to be an act, he was playing the fool to trick her for his own amusement. Because at the end of every loop she was sitting in her room in the Tendo home with nothing more than a growing sense of frustration.

Returning to the present, she grinded her teeth. There was only one solution. The trickster god known as Ranma Saotome had to be killed!

Now she only had to find out how to destroy gods...

* * *

Just for variety, a fic where the Awakened character isn't able to control everybody with foreknowledge and the butterfly effect is in full swing.

There is of course a simple explanation why this is happening to Nabiki. She had once stepped on the avatar of the gods of butterflies and now he is using his powers to get his vengeance. :D


	3. Kasumi

**Kasumi in the time-loops.**

Kasumi politely listened while her honored father explained the reasons for the arranged marriage between Clan Tendo and Clan Saotome. She might have heard it before but that was no reason to be impolite and interrupt. She knew about Ranma-kun and his curse and how he would fall for her youngest sister.

And she knew how easy it was to bring the two of them together. She just had to send him to the bathroom five minutes earlier to avoid that embarrassing encounter altogether and after they heard Saotome-san's tale of Jusenkyo, she would only have to ask Ranma-kun that he should wait a month before he chose his fiancée and after that she only had to remind Ranma-kun of his manners at the table and two weeks later Akane-imouto-chan and him would start dating and taking care of their problems themselves in a mature manner instead of acting like children again.

Which gave her the time pursue her interests in the arts of cooking, healing and magic. Ever since Saotome-san and Ranma-kun arrived and demonstrated their curses, Kasumi was aware of magic, but it took returning to this day to show her that she was destined for the mystic arts.

At first she had no idea where to start, but she remembered her youngest sister's tales of her brother-in-law's adventures and their encounters with various objects of uncanny power.

In China there was of course the valley of Jusenkyo with its eldritch curses, the Jusenkyo company with their various trinkets, and the villages of the Amazons with their collections of mystical artifacts, but all three were far away and offered only power, no understanding.

In Japan one could find a sword that would fulfill one's wishes, but every child had heard tales how such things would always do what was said and not what was wanted - how similar they were in that respect to computers - and how dangerous it was to reveal one's dreams to another. It was always best to keep wishes to oneself and work to achieve one's dreams in time.

There were foolish painters who would create cursed paintings to entertain the masses for a pittance. Those had doomed themselves and were to be left alone lest oneself would follow them to one's end. Kasumi was grateful that she had avoided such pitfalls in the past and hoped that she would do the same in the future.

There was a salesman who would sell his costumers the recipe for a cake that if baked by the costumer would tell if the consumer of the pastry was their destined love.

Another salesman who would sell paper dolls that once put on the body of another would force the wearer to follow the written orders. And a shop owner who would sell an instrument that would force the victim to love the bearer of this dark tool as if it was a harmless trinket. Kasumi mentally returned to the present and took care of those problems, before she continued her musings.

And there was another shop right in Nerima that once sold the egg of a Phoenix.

From her sister's tale she remembered how the owner had warned Tatewaki-kun of the dangers of the bird and how he was swayed by the younger man's disregard of money, a sure sign of nobility.

Back then in her first loop she had made her way to the small shop in a thoroughly ordinary street in her native Nerima, the district of Tokyo where she had lived all her life and never noticed any remarkable oddities before the arrival of her rather outspoken brother-in-law. Walking to the shop, she had tried to prepare herself for every kind of strangeness she could imagine and was somehow disappointed that her preparations were for naught. It was an ordinary antique shop in an ordinary building on an ordinary street corner. As was the norm for most antique shops it was filled to the ceiling with objects from Japan's glorious history. A suspicious person might have noticed the variety of items and the number of strange looking trinkets, but only for fear of damages by accident and having to purchase those items.

The shopkeeper was an old man bowed with age wearing warm clothing despite the nice spring weather and eager to help his costumers. He knew the properties of the items he was selling, despite his insistence that he did not believe in magic, possibly from a fear of being sued for damages when the purchaser inexpertly used the items. After a polite discussion and transaction of money, Kasumi was the new owner of a tome of healing spells.

Returning to her home, she began studying the book, but stopped when she began worrying about possible repercussions. She only wanted to help, but the experiences of the last year – or rather the coming year – made her wary of the consequences of her actions. After a week of meditation and introspection, in which she tried to mend fences between the youngest members of the household, she decided that like with medicine the spells she had chosen were designed to help people and should be used even if there were side effects.

Thanks to her diligent studies she could counter the magical side effects when they would show themselves, but there were also accidental personal side effects like Akane-chan's discovery of Hibiki's curse the day he arrived at school, Nabiki-chan's new interest in martial arts tea ceremony, Ranma-kun's friendship with Kodachi-chan, otou-san's yazunichuan curse, and Saotome-san's lengthy stay at the zoo. Despite all this changes the year ended more peacefully than the last and once again she found herself back at otou-san's introduction to the arrangement.

The following morning she found that she could still perform all the magic from the books she had purchased and decided to buy other ones, though she had feelings of dishonesty. This continued for a number of years until she found that the old man had only one other magic book to sell, but he could recommend shops in other parts of the city and over time Kasumi would have collected quite a library hadn't the books the habit of vanishing annually.

Her growing profiency attracted unwanted attention by other mages who saw themselves challenged by an upstart seemingly coming from nowhere with many years of experience. And like he always did before, Ranma-kun tried to help and became part of the challenges. Against impossible odds and insurmountable opponents with unpronouncable names, her young brother-in-law would rise to the challenge and defend his family.

Then again he would often arrive at the worst possible moment enraging her opponents to create even worse problems then those that he solved. She had sometimes wondered if he wasn't just acting to have fun at her expense.

Especially when she had found out that the timeloops were somehow connected to him. Many times she had tried to see if there was a concious connection and if she could break out of these loops but it appeared that magic powers could reach back and forward in time but not in the sideways direction that these loops took.

As her powers grew the number of challenges diminished and the last of her fights weren't even noticed by any human mages. They were completely outside the realm of their senses and even Ranma-kun did nothing to interfere even by implication.

Now she physically sat in the living room of her ancestral home looking forward to Ranma's arrival since she still hoped he could give her a clue to the nature of this strange phenomenon she has now experienced more than three hundred times.

But spiritually she sat on the throne of this creation trying to unravel the threads of existence to find the temporal loop.

In her mind she spoke to all that heard the flows of magic in this reality. "Hello dear Universe, my name is Tendo Kasumi. It's nice to meet you all again."

And the worlds trembled at the sound of their master's voice.

* * *

The book of Megami-Sama Kasumi. A quiet story, but it's very hard to imagine Kasumi fighting. Probably boring for everybody else, but at least it ends with an intro. :)

Part three of the Fics from Outside of Mainstream Accepted Opinion! Innortal wrote that Ranma has to be alive so the loop wouldn't start again, but he never said that he has to be Awake and I never mentioned that he had died.


	4. Ukyo

**Ukyo's ****hundredth loop**

Once again Ukyo found herself selling okonomiyaki in Nagoya. She wasn't surprised about this sudden change of scenery since she was able to count down the exact time when the loop would start again and she found herself back at this corner. She had no idea what had started this, but she suspected that it was some misdirected wish by Konatsu. Seeing that no one else remembered the past – or future – year, she had tried to use these second chances and make Ranchan hers. But after some tries she had finally had t recognize that Ranma and Akane were in love, so she decided to give up on him. It took only two or three… dozen times.

She had learned her lesson and vowed to take care of Konatsu as she had originally promised and thanked the heavens for this lesson in life.

She was very surprised when the loops still continued. She got Konatsu earlier out of the hands of his step-family, tried to help Ryoga to get rid of his curse and meet Akari, tried to find other partners for Mousse and Shampoo, and lastly she even tried to help Ranma and Akane to get along. "As if they didn't already had enough people trying to push them together." She thought in reminescence. She was mostly unsuccessful, except for Konatsu. After three dozen loops of this she gave up on the people in Nerima and decided to go and see the world with her kunoichi husband.

The last loop was spent in Greece and now she prepared herself to defeat the ugly squad once again. The best time for this would be in two weeks, after they had to deal with a busload of nastily surprised Martial Arts Sararimen. She would only help a bit to put them in hospital and burn the café down. Konatsu's step-family would send him off for revenge and while he searched for the sararimen – who had wisely used a fake address when they reserved at the café – she had to offer the homeless Konatsu food and shelter and a love would be born. It wasn't a nice plan, but she wasn't dealing with nice people.

So right now she had some time off and decided to play a bit with Ranchan and his uncute fiancée. She liked Akane, but she liked the nickname even more.

She wasn't crazy enough to deal with Kuno for fun, therefore she spent a week preparing her grand entrance and her later plans for Konatsu and their future move to Hawaii. She had only learned last loop on which islands Principal Kuno had spent his days and she reconstructed the timetable of which places to avoid. Maybe she could sell a couple of copies to those poor traumatised people she had questioned to prevent them from coming to harm. At least for this loop.

* * *

School was over for the day and a newly engaged couple of martial artists was on their way home.

"I can't believe it! Who is still throwing their dishwater out of the window! Without checking even! Is this part of Tokyo or some Chinese backwater?" Ranted an angry redhead, before she noticed a wonderful smell and stopped to look around.

Close to some shops stood a modern mobile food stall with a proud banner proclaiming: "Fresh okonomiyaki! Here at Ucchan's 'Japanese pizza!'" The two came closer to the cart when suddenly the young vendor behind the grill looked up, blinked and then grinned predatorily. The good-looking cook prepared one of the pancakes, threw it to Ranma and yelled: "Ranma! It's been a long time!"

Ranma caught it and looked at the silly face painted with sauce. "I-it's all coming back to me!" Ranma thought and jumped up, bad mood forgotten. "You're… You're…"

"Heh!" The food fighter grinned and took up half a dozen spatulas. "For ten years I've hunted you!" The attacker called and threw the cooking utensils in Ranma's direction, who all but ignored them and instead jumped fast forward to the cook only stopping the move with her left hand hitting a wall and a her right hand's index finger close to the other one's nose.

"You're "Ucchan" from that okonomiyaki cart!" Ranma exclaimed happily.

Akane came closer to the pair. "You were childhood friends?"

"Yeah, for a while, anyway." Ranma answered looking back and wanted to explain their fights for food, but was interrupted when Ukyo hugged her.

"I've missed you too, Ranchan." Ukyo said softly.

"Wh-what are you doing?" Ranma was very confused now.

"I am greeting my beautiful fiancée." Ukyo let go of Ranma and stepped back to hold Ranma's left cheek lightly with a hand. "You've become really beautiful. I'm so glad our fathers arranged our marriage."

"But I am a boy."

Ukyo just smiled and looked towards Akane. "Just like the cutie over there, right sugar?"

"No, it's a curse – what do you mean, our parents arranged our marriage?"

"Don't you remember?" Ukyo asked in a friendly tone, tilted her head to the side and smiled sadly. "My father even gave you our okonomiyaki cart as dowry."

Ranma paled. "I remember! The vrrr!" Then his face darkened and he bolted out of Ukyo's reach and yelled: "Pops! I'm gonna kill you for engaging me to a boy!"

Ukyo grinned as she watched Ranma running towards the Tendo Dojo. This worked even better then expected!


	5. Shampoo

**Shampoo in the time-loops.**

Once again, Shan Pu of the Joketsuzoku found herself standing on the docks of Nobeoka seeing the first of the Ayu fishers coming in from the sea. She remembered the first time she had found herself back at this place and what happened afterwards.

* * *

It was shortly after her Airen Ranma and the violent girl Akane had tried to marry despite the fact that he was married to Shan Pu due to the laws of the tribe. She believed her transfer was just another magic trick by one of her rivals or his enemies since she remembered going to bed in her room in the Cat Café. Proud that she knew the fastest way to Tokyo unlike a certain pig-boy, she ran to the central station and jumped on one of the trains leaving for the main island.

The next morning she arrived just in time to see Ranma fighting „stick-boy" Kuno under a clouded sky that promised rain. She noticed a movement at her back and saw the panda-man, her airen's worthless male of a father, fleeing in direction of his friend's dojo. She thought that it must have been his plan to send her away from her Ranma and looked back to the school grounds for her husband, just in time to see him standing above a defeated and unconscious Kuno, changed by the rain into his cursed form. Then she jumped down to greet him.

"Oh, damn." Ranma complained. "I hope no one can see me."

Akane just silently pointed at the audience in the windows of the school.

"Okay, but the rain should make things hard to see, right?" He still heard them mutter above the light rainfall. "Oh hell, let's just go inside."

"Airen!" Came a happy voice from behind the two.

"Sh-sh-Shampoo!" Ranma paled, looked around, then stepped back. "You are the only one I cannot fight!" She yelled, kicked the unconscious Kuno in the direction of the Amazon, turned, and fled through the hole in the wall that Kuno's technique had produced.

After she had used her sousui maces to hurl the distraction to the side, she saw him gone. "Airen?" Shampoo wondered, then she turned to Akane, who – as she noticed then belatedly – had today very long hair that reminded her of the eldest Tendo daughter, the 'too-too nice girl' Kasumi. "What violent girl do to airen? Why he run away from Shan Pu?"

"How should I know? Who are you anyway?" Akane shot back.

"Violent girl want trick Shan Pu like fathers! What do to Airen?" Shan Pu pointed her left hand with her weapon in Akane's direction. "Speak!"

"I didn't do anything! Put that thing away!" Akane hit the sousui, but couldn't move it. Still ready for a fight, she got into a stance.

"Violent girl no can win! Tell Shan Pu or Shan Pu kill!"

"Leave Akane alone!" Came a voice from above. Ranma in his female form jumped between the two real girls and took a stand. "Your fight is with me!"

"Airen! Why you run away?"

"Why I…" Ranma shook her head irritatedly. "Because you want to kill me!"

"Kill you?" Akane interjected, then she got angry at him. "What did you do to that girl, you pervert? " After a moment's thought she suddenly paled and stepped away from the pair and asked anxiously. "You didn't… did you?"

"What are you talking about, you tomboy?" Ranma shot back. "I only fought her and won! And now she wants to kill me!"

The mutterings in the background were still audible above the ever louder rain.

"Shan Pu no want kill husband!"

"Husband? What do you mean husband?" Ranma followed up, silently relieved that he didn't have to fight her to the death. He knew that he would even win such a fight against her without a problem, but it was basically his fault that the Chinese girl would have to die at the end.

"Ranma defeat Shan Pu! Shan Pu give husband Kiss of Marriage!"

"What do you mean, Kiss of Marriage! The only kiss you gave me was that Kiss of Death thing!"

"Airen defeat Shan Pu in Violent Girl home," she pointed at Akane, "Airen kick Shan Pu best sousui and," she held the weapon up and hesitated. Looking at the weapon she sounded confused. "Sousui whole." Then she looked to the sky. "It rain. Shan Pu no cat."

Akane ignored the cat comment, thinking the obviously crazy foreigner had made some mistake learning Japanese. "What do you mean you fought in my house? Ranma arrived only yesterday and I've never seen you before!"

Shan Pu ignored her and said. "Shan Pu confused. Go to Great-grandmother." Then she ran away.

There was no Cat Café when she arrived there. The building was empty, waiting for a new owner. It was the same with the Ucchan's, the home of her – in her opinion – greatest rival for the heart of her husband. She snuck into the home of the Tendo family and found the room of the old pervert empty, another suspect for this kind of trickery couldn't be found. When she went back to the school, she listened to the pair arguing outside of the classroom. Peeking through the window she saw Ranma in his male form looking younger than the last time she saw him and so did Akane, now that she was used to her longer hair.

She had only one place left to go for help, her village in China. At the start of her long journey she found a newspaper and noticed the date. She was more than one year in the past and many things started to make sense. Finally at home she explained it all to her great-grandmother Ke Lun, Elder of the Joketsuzoku.

After long deliberation and a meeting with the Jusenkyo guide the wise old woman came to a conclusion. "It must have been a vision to warn you, child. You haven't given the young Saotome the Kiss of Marriage, correct?" Shampoo nodded and the Elder continued. "The Kiss of Death was wrongly given and now there is no other promise that you are bound to follow. You avoided the terrible curse of Jusenkyo and despite a small mistake your honor is intact."

"But what about Ranma, Elder Ke Lun?"

"He is honor-bound to marry this Tendo girl and – if your premonition is correct – this young cook, too." Cologne shook her head and said sadly: "You shouldn't pursue him. He is already dead thanks to the foolishness of his father." Cologne gathered herself and continued. "The only thing to consider is Happosai. According to your vision, he still has some of the treasures of our people and he will come to live with the Tendos. If this comes to pass, we will be able to get them back. This will be another proof of your vision and strengthen your position as a future leader of our people. I will ask warrior Culi Pa to accompany me to this Nerima place, while you will stay here and lore-mistress Xiso Es teaches you other future visions that your sisters have received." She stood up and finished. "The Goddess must have great plans for you, young Shan Pu."

Shan Pu stayed obediently back in the village and learned what was asked of her. When her great-grandmother returned, there was a feast to honor the two returning Joketsuzoku and the new prophet. She learned that Ranma was still fighting the old pervert and that the Amazons had also retrieved the artifacts Happosai had stolen from others, like the Moxibustion chart. They also brought back a young man named Ryu Kumon who had managed to defeat Culi Pa and was given the Kiss of Marriage. She continued to learn the lore of her tribe and the techniques of the warriors since she still hoped it was her destiny to become one of them instead of a prophet.

One year later she was staying up late learning in the cave of the prophets and without warning she once again stood on the docks of Nobeoka. She had not felt any change in the temperature as if she had stood there for some time. Neither did her eyes have to react to the change in brightness, nor did her body react to the change in position. Pensively, she moved once again to Nobeoka's central station and rode a train to Tokyo.

In Nerima, she watched Ranma's fight with Kuno from a different position. Just before he could strike the swordsman down, the panda arrived to move Ranma away before people would notice his change. When she returned to her village this time, she had both an easier and a harder time to convince the Elders of her story. It was easier since she remembered things that would happen the following days and harder since she also knew of the prophecies that only select few were allowed to study. Despite this, Ke Lun and the other elders came to the same conclusion as before. She would further study the prophecies and the fighting arts, while Ke Lun would travel to Nerima, this time accompanied by three other Amazons and they brought back Happosai as a prisoner.

This was repeated many times, until she knew all prophecies of her people. After she had demonstrated her full knowledge of the prophecies and her fighting prowess to the council, they came to a different conclusion.

"It seems the goddess wants you to learn more before she will reveal your destiny. We think there is nothing more that you should learn here before you find your path. Go out into the world and do not return until this repeating year of yours is over."

And thus, she was banned from her home.

She set out to meet the other tribes of the Byankalaya mountains, but when the year was over, she decided to stay in Japan. Starting in Nobeoka, she investigated every nook and cranny of the strange land. She broke into businesses, homes and temples to find her destiny. She was amazed by the number of magical trinkets she found, especially the dozens that were connected to Jusenkyo. After a hundred loops she was finally finished and set her sights back to China. Among other arts, she had learned the best way to search and finished investigating her homeland after only another hundred loops. And she was sick of it. Sick of the dust in abandoned ruins and antique shops, sick of policemen and cultists following her, sick of the monsters, sick of the loneliness.

Then she remembered her dream. Before all of this, it had been her life-long goal to become the greatest warrior of the Joketsuzoku and only the loss of face at the tournament made her stray from that path. So she went out to formally challenge any martial arts master she could find. Many of them saw only her youth and beauty so she made a habit of breaking the walls of their homes and the bones of the master's students that would rise to stop her, before she would announce her challenge.

But she had already learned too much. The grandmasters of the art were no challenge to her might, even the ancient master Happosai had to admit defeat when she fought him.

Talking to one of her last targets, she realized there was something else that masters of the art would never challenge and which could test her might as a warrior.

The army.

Her first fight was a mistake. She attacked barracks directly and defeated every single man until she stood in front of the garages containing the tanks and other vehicles of war. Then she realized where she had gone wrong. Armies would not fight in the barracks the same as martial artists would not fight in their homes. Both would meet formal challengers in their training halls and warriors on the battlefield with their weapons in their hands. So she had to create a battlefield and the city of Nobeoka was the first available target.

She got rid of the police and the local masters and declared herself ruler of the island of Kyushu. She announced her further campaign on national TV and the army obligingly tried to stop her on the way to Kitakyushu. It was a massacre. Tanks were destroyed using the Breaking Point. Planes were caught in sudden hurricanes using the variants of the Ascending Sky Dragon. Bullets were plucked out of the air using the Advanced Chestnut Fist. Explosions were cut in half by invisible ki techniques.

Among the single challengers on her way was a lonely red-haired pigtailed girl. She didn't recognize her at first or when the Japanese tried to talk to her. Only afterwards when she lay in the dust with broken bones she recognized her former husband whom she hadn't seen in over two hundred years.

After the battles of Kyushu, she continued her campaign on Shikoku and after that when she landed on the main island a barely healed Ranma got in her way again, using some of the moves she had used against him and other techniques that were documented by the Japanese war correspondents. But she knew the counters and once again he was defeated and once again she spared his life.

Even the great battle of Tokyo was a test of her stamina, not her strength. There were a priests trying to exorcise the demon and cultists trying to appease the new goddess of war. Ranma got in her way for the third time and his new knowledge of her moves was the biggest challenge of the whole campaign. But she knew many other styles and many other moves and even a prodigy couldn't learn fast enough. After that fight, the last of Tokyo's defenders fell without even making her breathing hard.

On a whim she seated herself on the Chrysanthemum Throne and ordered some of the cultists to bring Ranma to her.

When they had found and brought him, she took some time to look at him. He was pale from loss of blood, wrapped in bandages and his arms were put in plaster. Despite his injuries, he glared at the stranger occupying the seat reserved for the descendants of the sun goddess Amaterasu and Shan Pu was pleased to find his spirit unbroken.

"It's nice to see you alive, Ranma Saotome." She greeted him in Mandarin. Insisting that everyone spoke a foreign language in the halls of the palace was yet another deliberate insult to the Japanese pride.

"Who are you?" Ranma asked belligerently.

"You don't recognize me? Oh, I see. Your eyes are injured. I am Shan Pu, warrior of the Joketsuzoku."

"No. You fight in China and I win. I run and you not win." His grasp of Mandarin was poor,since he had spent the year in China in all of its provinces and had barely enough time to learn the basics of the varying languages and dialects. "In Japan you win fight with better than me. You is not Shampoo. You is… something in body of Shampoo."

"I guess I learned a lot in these past years and that has changed me too much to be recognizable to you. Still, I am a bit angry that you think I am some kind of demon. I think I will kill you for this insult." She said conversationally. She was disappointed that he would believe that something could possess her despite all her mental discipline that she had gained during her decades of training in the martial arts.

When she walked up to him and lifted her sword above his head, he didn't flinch. Then she brought it down and the only movement in the room was his head falling on the immaculate floor. She looked at it for a few seconds, then she found herself at the intact docks of Nobeoka watching the ships in the harbor.

She was stunned. The loop had ended earlier. This was certainly not the first time it had happened, during her travels in Japan the loops had sometimes ended earlier and they did that again during the time she had investigated the treasures of the other tribes of Jusenkyo. But this was the first time she could connect one of her actions with the phenomenon. She remembered that she had met some of Ranma's rivals and fiancées during those times and it was conceivable that these encounters had somehow altered their fights with Ranma, leading to his early death and the restart of the loop.

Still, she had to test this hypothesis. She used the Step of the Martial Messenger to travel instantly to the roof of the Tendo Dojo in Tokyo and saw the Panda-man arriving, carrying the redheaded girl on his back. Not caring for the situation, she jumped down and beheaded the unconscious Ranma and shortly after she found herself back in Nobeoka. To make sure she killed him again. And again. As a girl and as a boy, at day and in the night, alone and in front of others, from behind and in a fair fight, with her weapons, her fists, her poisons, her potions, her amulets, her jewelry. The result was the same. After the last bit of life had left the body of her former Airen, she found herself back at her starting point without variation.

With this new information she visited those she had consulted before to find a way out of the repeating year. Wise women and sages, priestesses and cultists, witches and warlocks, madwomen and philosophers. Following their advices she tried many things. She cured and cursed Ranma, loved and hated him, forgave him and took vengeance, carried his child and once at the urgings of a lunatic she used the darkest potions she knew and ate him alive while he watched helplessly.

And at the end she found herself back in Nobeoka, watching the fishermen.

And she had enough. Enough of Ranma, enough of advices, enough of magic. She wanted to be a warrior! Not some mystic! She wanted to fight! She hated this mystery! She wanted to destroy something!

* * *

She looked eastwards at the grand Pacific Ocean. Far away was a land that in its history had never been conquered by invaders from outside. The United States of America. A worthy target for Shampoo: Warrior Princess! Ai-YAH!

* * *

Yet another girl going crazy from centuries in the loop. I used the Pinyin Romanization system to spell the names to emphasize that this was written from Shampoo's POV.


	6. Touchdown

This chapter is dedicated to a single objective: The conquest of the universe! ...

Ahem, I mean, my reviewers Edrik and Wolfwing who gave me the inspiration to create this finishing chapter.

**Looping Chapter 6: ****Touchdown**

"Fiancé?" The question echoed through the living room of the Tendo residence.

Soun Tendo began to explain. "Yes. The son of a very good friend of mine." He looked at his three daughters and continued. "The son's name is Ranma Saotome. If one of you three girls were to marry him and carry on this training center, then the Tendo family legacy would be secure."

He studied his daughters and was surprised by their reactions. Akane smiled happily looking at her sisters sitting to her left, Nabiki glared angrily and alternated looking to her left and right, and Kasumi seemed even more serene than ever with her head turned slightly to look at all members of the family in the room.

He was a bit confused by the lack of vocal reaction of his usually outspoken daughters and hoped this was a good sign. "He will arrive today with his father…"

Nabiki seemed to have heard enough, jumped to her feet, pointed her finger accusingly at Akane first and then at Kasumi, and yelled: "You! You, too! You know what's going on, right? You've heard this all before, too!" Soun was completely flabbergasted and couldn't make hands or tails of what his middle daughter said.

"Both of you remember?" Akane asked eagerly, which didn't help her father's peace of mind at all. "That's great! Maybe Ranma will remember again, too!"

"Ranma knows?" Screeched Nabiki. "I knew it! I knew he was behind it all the time! Oh, I will get my revenge. How he will suffer! Kekeke." She laughed creepily.

"Nabiki-chan. Please stop agitating our honored father. Oto-sama," she addressed Soun calmly, "it seems that the three of us have independently repeated the coming year many times for some unknown reason."

Soun had no time to be relieved to hear an explanation for his daughters' behavior when Nabiki yelled again: "Unknown reason? It was Ranma, of course! Who else ruined my life but that gender-bending freak of nature! He is some kind of evil kami!"

"Nabiki! Ranma is no freak!" Akane exclaimed. "And not an evil kami, either!"

Soun was happy to hear his youngest daughter defending his friend's son, although he was still confused how she knew him and what Kasumi had meant with a repeating year.

"Although he has a divine body." Akane added with a fond smile, which gave her protective father a whole new different set of reasons to worry about.

Suddenly there were loud crashes at the door, followed by the sound of rushing water and a young male voice cried out: "Hot! Hot! Hot!"

Soun hurried to the door to deal with the normal threat of home invaders, moving all thoughts about his daughters' behavior to the back of his mind.

Akane shot Kasumi a questioning look. "Did you…?"

"I arranged for some hot water to bath Ranma-kun and Saotome-san. I thought it best to not confuse our honored father any further."

"So you learned some magic, too!" Akane was happy to hear that both of them now shared another interest besides cooking. "That hot water was a good idea. What spell did you use? Are you a grandmaster of the Sureihando School of Martial Arts magic like me?"

"I think now is not the time to discuss our relative abilities. It would be most prudent to go and greet our guests." Kasumi rised to her feet to follow her father. "Are you coming, Nabiki-chan?"

Nabiki hadn't listened and sulked until she was addressed by Kasumi. "If I never see that damn jock again, it will be too soon. I am going back to my room. Again!" Nabiki sullenly answered and left for upstairs.

"What's with her?" Akane asked no one in particular and went to meet her future husband again for the first time.

In the hall she saw her father enthusiastically greeting Mr. Saotome, hugging him and patting his back, while Ranma stood aside scratching his neck.

"Welcome, Saotome-san, Ranma-san." Kasumi greeted their guests. "This is my honored father Soun Tendo, my youngest sister Akane and my name is Kasumi. My younger sister Nabiki is upstairs and will join us later. Would you please join us in the living room for some tea and refreshments?"

"Ah, thank you, Kasumi-san. Sorry about this," Ranma pointed to the bucket and water on the floor, "if you could show me where you've got the mop and stuff, I could…"

"That is quite alright, Ranma-kun." Kasumi denied. "Please join Akane-chan for some tea. She is the premier martial artist of her generation in Nerima and I am sure the two of you have a lot to talk about."

"Okay." Ranma nodded eagerly. He was used to clean up the messes his father left in the dojos they visited and their hosts were always more generous with food when he offered to help. The same part of his brain reminded him of other basic manners and how those influenced the amount of food he would receive, so he continued: "That is my father Genma Saotome and I am Ranma Saotome." He grinned awkwardly. "But I guess you knew that already."

"Daddy told us your names about five minutes ago." Akane answered. "And we could guess who is who. Please come on in. Kasumi makes the best tea in all of Japan."

"Akane-chan is exaggerating, of course. Oto-sama, Saotome-san, would you like some refreshments? There is some sake in the refrigerator…"

"Excellent idea, Tendo! Sake sounds great!" Interrupted Genma. "Let's join our kids, after all, traveling is thirsty work!"

"Quite right, Saotome, quite right! Why I remember…" Soun answered, while they went to the living room. Kasumi just looked at the floor to make sure that water and bucket were gone, both out of habit and because of the respect the home of her ancestors was due. She sent a spiritual double of herself to buy the sake from the shop and cooled it down, while she prepared the tea in the kitchen by hand. After all, if one did not respect the tea, one did not respect the guests. When the tea was finished, she put the dishes on a tray and went to the main room, where Akane had somehow managed to start a discussion of training methods and sparring instead of other kinds of engagements. The sake was greeted enthusiastically by the parents.

When Kasumi sat down to put the dishes on the table Akane whispered: "Did you remove the glasses?"

"Indeed. I just wanted to avoid the chance of our dear father witnessing any unfortunate accidents."

While the fathers discussed the various kind of sake they had encountered during their travels, Akane invited Ranma for a spar. Ranma was eager to see if the elder sister's endorsement was based on truth and was positively surprised. Akane favored a more ground-based combat and the sudden use of the weaponry stationed on the walls, while he preferred aerial maneuvers and fighting unarmed, but she seemed to know almost as many styles as him. Only his greater reach and strength decided the spar in his favor. He thought that both of them would be able to learn a lot from each other. Which was just the impression that Akane wanted to make. She had a lot of practice with this well-meant deception.

After an eventless bath and a wonderful dinner – the elders at the table had been too enthusiastic about the strong sake and didn't start any further conversations – the daughters of the house excused themselves to take care of housework and homework, while the men watched an unannounced documentation about the forgotten training grounds of Tokyo.

"Okay, you two." Nabiki stared at the other two women kneeling in the dojo. "Who changed the TV program?"

"Not me." Akane countered, while she soldered another set of cables to connect her cell phone with the third black box she had gotten from nowhere. "I mean I could have, but I was busy phreaking." She finished, used some duct tape to combine the four appliances to create something that looked like a preschool kid's first sculpture and pushed a button. "A-ha! It works as usual. I was afraid the combination of three of us being aware would somehow change the codes, but…" She dialed a number and when her call was answered she talked with somebody in a language that Nabiki couldn't identify, despite of hundreds of loops in different business oriented universities, but it sounded African.

When Akane had finished, Nabiki had to ask. "So, who did you call and why? Some sort of witch doctor?"

"Really, Nabiki- chan, you shouldn't pry." Kasumi scolded. "But I am curious as well. Why did you have to call a politician in Zaire? And why did you use his old tribe's dialect?"

"Because with the information I gave him he will be able to stop the warlords in the region and with a couple of other calls during the next months this will lead to a successful pan-African congress and some peaceful progress that will hopefully last after the end of the loop."

It seemed to Nabiki that her younger sister was still an idealistic fool. "A couple?" Nabiki asked snidely. "One should think you'd need to call everyone in Africa to do something like that."

"Okay, about two hundred people in Africa." She admitted defensively. "But most of them want to live in peace, too. You just have to know which ones mean it. Now, please be quiet. The French Premier doesn't like to hear voices in the background." She turned her back to her sisters and dialed again.

Nabiki gaped. Her little martial arts nut of a sister talking to a European politician? And acting as if she was doing that every day? This was a nightmare. Ranma must have invented some new kind of torture for her. She looked helplessly at her older sister who held a finger in front of her mouth, while they listened to Akane using some code to identify herself in fluent French as an agent of the Sûreté Nationale to advise the man on the other end of the line on issues of a forthcoming international conference concerning the war on drugs.

"How many people are you going to call today?" She asked incredulously.

"Only two dozen, but that can wait for an hour. Oh, and I have to call that mullah at three. I need to program the alarm!" After she had spend some time pushing buttons on her device, she looked up to Nabiki and asked: "I was just wondering – could we somehow coordinate our efforts? I guess you will have a different game-plan, maybe you're concentrating on the global economy. You always were more business-savvy than me…"

"Are you kidding me?" Nabiki exploded. "Global economy? Africans? Secret agents? Mullahs? How can you just call those people? What if they trace you back? What do you even want from them?"

"Well, I told you. I can call them because I know their numbers. And this baby here can't be traced! At all!" She held up the duct-taped artifact. "Do you think I haven't learned from my mistakes? And what I want is simple. World peace." She crossed her arms and looked at her gaping sister. "And this wouldn't be the first time I got it."

"Oh, my. Akane-chan, I… I am so proud of you! And I feel so inadequate now. I concentrated on bettering myself in the mystic arts before I tried anything while you were helping people with what you had."

Nabiki turned her head so fast she nearly broke her neck. "Mystic arts?" Her down-to-earth older sister playing with magic?

"Don't worry, Nabiki-chan, you don't have to ask. I've already convinced that kami you didn't intentionally tread on his avatar. He will leave you alone now and in the other loops."

"You can talk to kamis? You know what is going to happen in the loops? How powerful are you?" Akane asked wide-eyed. Then she made some gestures, tilted her head to the side and looked at her. She bolted upright, fell down on her back again, scrambled backwards to the wall and pointed at Kasumi. "You… you…"

"It isn't nice to point Akane-chan."

Akane quickly moved her hand behind her back as if it was scalded.

"And I only gave Nabiki-chan a marker that the kami will recognize in the following loops." Kasumi turned to the middle sister. "Nabiki-chan, how many repeats did you have?"

Nabiki looked strangely at her older sister. Then she decided that her little sister was still the queen of overacting. "Three hundred and fifty-one." She answered sullenly

"So did I." And she added softly: "Including those that I didn't live through to the end."

Akane had slowly returned to her old position and added apologetically: "I am not sure, but I'd guess I had the same number of loops, too."

"So, it's only us and Ranma who remember looping? Or is he doing that to other people, too?"

Nabiki's paranoia began to annoy Akane. "Are you trying to imitate my old behavior or something? And I haven't met anyone else with memories from the past repeats. It seems we are the only ones in this plane."

"Actually, little sister, this time there are three others who remember past loops."

"How would you know that?" demanded Nabiki.

"After what I've seen I would trust her if she told me the sky was green." Akane sighed and added: "Not that I didn't trust her before."

"And what is it that you've seen, Akane?"

"Do you understand Goze's theory of n-dimensional magic perception?"

"What?" Nabiki bellowed irritated.

"Well, I don't have three hours to explain it to an ignoramus, so will just have to trust me on that, won't you, Nabs?" Akane smirked in a manner that was all-too-familiar for Nabiki and turned to Kasumi. "So, who are those other three?"

"Ukyo-san, Shan Pu and that Kuno girl."

That Kuno girl? Was the thought shared by the two younger sisters. They both knew Kasumi meant Kodachi Kuno, but they had never heard her addressing someone in such an impolite manner. Especially one of Ranma's "little friends." And why didn't she use a honorific for Shampoo?

Akane wanted to know what was going on between, but she was still more than a bit awed by Kasumi's abilities, so she tried to be indirect. "Uh, what are they doing right now?"

"Ukyo-san plans to help Konatsu-chan, but she also wants to play a couple of pranks on both of you and other people she met in Nerima, so you should be prepared for some surprises." Kasumi smiled.

"Hey, I am all for pranks." Akane grinned. "As long as they are in good fun, of course."

"Indeed, imouto-chan. Gojira stopping by for my meals? Really?" Kasumi smiled at Akane.

"Ehehehe." Akane looked aside and played with her fingers.

"What's this about Godzilla?" Nabiki asked. "Did the jock get involved in some movie or something?"

"That's a story for another time." Kasumi decided. "But you should ask Akane-chan about Ranma and his senshi powers one time."

"Mind reading is so unfair." Akane complained. "What about Shampoo?"

"Shan Pu has apparently used the repetitions to become quite the warrior. I didn't like the idea of her hurting anyone."

Five minutes after the start of the new loop, Shan Pu had been once again on a trip across the Pacific to start a new South American campaign, when she found herself stranded on a uninhabited island that she only wanted to use as a stepping stone. She had somehow forgotten how to use the Step of the Martial Messenger and all similar techniques. She surmised that this was the work of a demon and went off to find and punish it. And eventually destroy it. Demons were good practice for torture techniques.

"And -"

"The other one is being taken care of."

Kodachi Kuno had just gathered her black roses with paralysis gas and wanted to go get her favorite toy once again – Oh, how she loved her toy! She could break it any way she wanted and next year it would be ready for a new way to break it! – when she opened the front door of the Kuno family mansion and found a group of people in white clothes waiting. The van on the street behind them had a black Greek letter Psi on a red cross and the text "Martial Art Psychiatrists."

"You don't want to know what she was doing." Kasumi continued in a cold voice that her sisters had never heard before and they independently decided not to ask. Ever.

"So, it's only us and Ranma's other girls. That just proves that it's all his fault."

Akane decided that Nabiki wasn't imitating her, but Ryoga. She just hoped she wouldn't get depressed and if she would that she hadn't learned the Shi Shi Hokodan. That technique left a terrible smell on the mystical plane. "Ranma has mentioned a couple of other groups from other universes who were repeating part of their lives when I met him. Apparently, we have got the shortest known loop."

"How did he meet them, Akane-chan?"

"He didn't say, but he mentioned some big accidents and said that the various loops somehow "fuse" after one."

"Accidents. Yeah, sure." Nabiki scoffed.

"Look, Nabiki, I don't know what happened to you, but…"

"It's not a question of what, it's who! And I told you! Ranma is just playing with all of you and you are just too blind to see!"

"Nabiki-chan, your unfortunate encounters with Ranma-kun were influenced by that butterfly…"

"That's what he wants you to think! Why can't you see that he is tricking you!"

"I have looked into Ranma-kun and I know that he doesn't have the power to create these repetitions."

"He is some kind of god in disguise!"

"Imouto-chan, I know kami and Ranma-kun isn't one."

"How the hell…"

"Nabs," Akane interrupted the argument, "if Kasumi says he isn't a kami then he isn't one."

"Hah! Ranma can fool everyone!"

"Nabiki. Kasumi isn't like everyone else." Akane had enough of her sister's paranoia and was at the end of her hard-earned patience. "She is the ipsissimus, the sorceress supreme, Mistress Order and Lady Chaos, the most powerful magician in existence!"

Nabiki just blinked at her younger sister.

Akane apparently regarded this argument as finished and addressed her older sister in a reverent tone, like a student asking a respected teacher. "Ah, Kasumi, I've always wondered, where does Ranma's female body come from? Its instant exchange and transfer of injuries violates Yashi's space-time theorem on the transport of transformational magic bodies."

Kasumi looked thoughtfully and answered: "Yashi is only mostly right, but I never thought about that. I think I will investigate this part of Jusenkyo." She bowed her head and a light purple aura began to surround her, becoming darker in the following minutes.

Nabiki wasn't used to her sister suddenly ignoring her and came closer to the meditating girl. "What is that light?" She tried to touch her, but before her hand could reach her, she snatched it back. "My hand! What happened to my hand!"

"Give me." She grabbed it before Nabiki could obey and looked at it. "It's bruised. You're lucky, considering the forces working in her aura, it could have been broken."

She made some gestures with her other hand and a strange green glow began to surround Nabiki's hand. Nabiki felt better and noticed that Akane repeated the gestures that she had used once before and once again looked at her sister.

"Simply amazing…"

Then reality broke.

* * *

"Fiancé?" The question echoed through the living room of the Tendo residence.

Soun Tendo began to explain. "Yes. The son of a very good friend of mine." He looked at his three daughters and continued. "The son's name is Ranma Saotome. If one of you three girls were to marry him and carry on this training center, then the Tendo family legacy would be secure."

He studied his daughters and was surprised by their reactions. All of them were pale and shaken. He knew it was a bit of a surprise, but an arranged marriage wasn't the end of the world. "He will arrive today with his father." He paused again to look at his children and it seemed they were gathering themselves, so he continued with furrowed eyebrows as the only sign of his concern. "Ranma and his father have been on a voyage of training. Recently, it seems, they crossed into China."

"We are alright, dear father. It was just the surprise, that's all." Kasumi reassured her father.

It hadn't been the simple shift from one position to another like it was during the other starts of the loops. There was a distinct feeling of parts of themselves, insides and outsides, the world, sounds and smells at the wrong place. Thankfully, it had only lasted for the blink of an eye.

It seemed to Mr. Tendo that he should have prepared his daughters better. They were usually more resilient and already able to take care of themselves and their problems. Maybe he should have mentioned it years ago? No, then they would have wanted to meet him and the problem was that he had no idea where Saotome was training his boy. He only suspected that there had been a training trip to China because that was where the postcard in his hand came from.

He thoughtfully looked at his daughters who were taking some sips from their drinks to steady their nerves. Maybe they should just meet the Saotomes today and next week they would decide who took the engagement? It wouldn't do to rush things, especially if they were this distracted.

He continued his musings and suddenly there was a loud noise at the front door. He heard a young man yelling. "Leggo, y'ol' fool!"

Leaping to his feet, he came to a conclusion born from experience with various kinds of noise. "Saotome, my friend! Is that you? We've been waiting!" He ran to the front door both eager to meet his old training partner and to explain the delicateness of the situation. He noticed gratefully that his daughters stood up to follow him.

When he arrived in the hall, he saw Genma Saotome coming in with his son over his shoulder. The elder Saotome hadn't changed much in all those years. "Saotome! It's been a long time." He greeted with open arms. His friend seemed to be surprised at something and set his son down in front of him.

"You've go to be Ranma. It's so good of you to come!" Soun greeted the young man enthusiastically and gave him a manly bear hug. When he let go, the boy seemed to be confused about something and touched his chest with his hands. It seemed he wasn't used to this kind of reception and Soun returned to Genma who seemed to be as confused as his son, before the two men began greeting each other.

Ranma was opening a pocket of his backpack and got his water flask out, when he noticed the daughters of the house. He put the flask on the pack and stood up. "Hello, my name is Ranma Saotome. It's nice to meet you."

"Welcome, Saotome-san, Ranma-san." Kasumi greeted their guests. "This is my honored father Soun Tendo, my younger sister Nabiki, my youngest sister Akane and I am Kasumi. Would you please join us in the living room for some tea and refreshments?"

"Thank you, Kasumi-san." He had noticed the girls looking at what he was doing with the backpacks. "Should I carry them outside? I guess they're a bit dirty…" He had met a couple of martial artists' wives who wouldn't even look at him after hard training and despite being a bit confused by his change without water he had an idea what their looks might mean.

"That won't be necessary, Ranma-kun." Kasumi denied. "Please join Nabiki-chan and Akane-chan in the living room. Akane-chan is the best martial artist of her generation in Nerima and I am sure you two want to compare your training."

"Okay." Ranma nodded eagerly.

While the others walked away, Kasumi addressed the fathers. "Oto-sama, Saotome-san, would you like some refreshments? There is some sake in the refrigerator…"

"Excellent idea, Tendo! Sake sounds great!" Interrupted Genma. "Let's join our kids, after all, traveling is thirsty work!"

"Quite right, Saotome, quite right! Why I remember…" Soun answered, while they went to the living room. Kasumi sent a simple spirit to buy the sake from the shop and cool it down, while she prepared the tea in the kitchen by hand. After all, it was an excellent method to calm oneself. When everything was ready, she put the dishes on a tray and went to the main room, where the parents talked about the time before they met their teacher. The sake was greeted enthusiastically by the parents.

When Kasumi sat down to put the dishes on the table Akane whispered: "What happened?"

"Please let us discuss this when we are amongst ourselves."

While the fathers discussed the various kind of sake they had encountered during their travels, Akane invited Ranma for a spar and Nabiki followed to watch. She wanted to see the boy defeated, but was disappointed when it seemed to her that despite centuries of training Akane was only as good as him when the match ended one hour later in a draw.

After everyone had a bath and a fine dinner – Soun started to talk about other topics whenever Genma mentioned the engagement – the girls excused themselves, while the men watched an old Bruce Lee movie and compared themselves favorably to the actors' abilities.

"So. What exactly happened when you started glowing, Ms. Sorceress Supreme?" Nabiki asked sarcastically when the three of them arrived at the dojo. She noticed that Akane had the cell phone with the extra boxes taped to it already with her and she suddenly noticed that she had no idea when and where she had gotten the parts.

"This will take some time to explain, imouto-chan. Akane-chan, do you want to make your phone-calls first?"

"No, I've already phoned them while you were in the kitchen. I can make the next ones while you answer Nabiki's questions."

"My questions? Don't you want to know what's happened, too?"

"Sure, but I bet you'll have a lot of Muggle questions."

"Muggle?" Nabiki asked angrily.

"People who don't know anything about magic. Like you."

"Hmph. Well, some of us have to live in the real world."

"And wear tinfoil hats, I know. Seriously, magic is part of the real world. Next thing I know you will claim there is no love." She made a surprised face and quickly pointed into the air like she had a sudden insight. "Oh, wait! You do that already, Ms. Ice Queen."

"Akane-chan, Nabiki-chan, please." Kasumi asked wearily. She knew her sisters were only acting this childishly because they were still shaken by the break.

"Sorry, big sister." "Yeah, sorry." Came from the two.

" I will try to put this as simple as I can. I believe I found the reason for the time-loops." The younger sisters had just sat down to listen and were now shocked to attention. "And I think I stopped them."

Akane was speechless of joy following that announcement. And end to the loops? Freedom from the repetitions? A whole life? Growing up, marrying, having children and growing old? Death held no fear for Akane after the hell of repetition.

Nabiki had noticed other parts of Kasumi's announcement. "You believe? You think?"

"I have noticed that there was a temporal component to Jusenkyo which interacted with another set of curses that was connected to the old borders of our family estate. In essence, the two sets of magic interacted when Ranma-kun was about to be betrayed by Saotome-san on that very border."

"Betrayed?" Akane was shocked. She knew that Genma was no saint, but she had once used farseeing to observe what had happened to Ranma when they arrived and what she had seen didn't seem like a betrayal to her.

"He struck him from behind." Clarified Kasumi. Curses didn't care for intentions, only actions.

"That must be the curses bought by the Hibiki clan, right?" Akane had checked the area for other magic and their origins. Using some divining spells and diverse libraries, she was able to find the history of nearly all magic in Nerima, except for a cursed tanuki statue that she hadn't encountered in the original timeline. It seemed that the Saotome-Hibiki feud didn't start with Ranma and Ryoga, but with two of their ancestors who were also fighting for the hand of a Tendo woman. A Chinese wizard was visiting the area and was hired to curse the Saotomes to betray each other as soon as they arrived at the Tendo estate. But it seemed the foreigner had problems with the Japanese language and the Saotomes would only be cursed if they betrayed each other. She couldn't divine more of the curse, but looking back it was obvious that this might have been part of the problem. The curse itself was too weak for an immense phenomenon like the time-loops, but if they had a connection to the waters of Jusenkyo…

And there was the possible feedback effect with the curse on the Hibiki clan. Clan Saotome had heard of the scheme of the Hibikis and hired the same Chinese wizard to curse them as retaliation. Once again the language barrier was in the way of a simple plan and instead of never finding their way home again, the Hibikis now rarely found their way anywhere. Akane had once broken that curse at the beginning of a loop, but even with a sense of direction Ryoga still had a lousy sense of timing. She couldn't get anywhere with Ranma during that loop, just because of that pig-boy's insufferable interruptions.

She had used the ceremonies to dissolve the curses at the end of every loop, but she couldn't do it before the loops themselves started and once started, curses could only be broken when the right circumstances were met, not by a simple cleansing.

"Indeed." Confirmed Kasumi. "Those curses are gone now. As are the Jusenkyo curses."

"Ranma is cured?" Akane asked sadly. After many lifetimes with her fiancé/e it was near impossible to imagine him without the curse. He wouldn't even remember what both had learned from it. Then again, Akane had already made a plan for this possible end of the time-loops, many repeats ago. Dream manipulation was surprisingly hard.

"And everyone else who fell into the springs." Kasumi continued.

Akane looked up in shock. Even though she knew intellectually that Kasumi was the strongest magician on Earth, she couldn't grasp that someone could break all the curses of this ancient and powerful site. The cursed water flowing from it had polluted all water on Earth with its magic and was already part of all life on Earth. It was as unimaginable as a single fish changing the currents of the ocean.

"But how…?"

"The valley of Jusenkyo is gone." Kasumi said simply. Akane had sat on her knees and now she slid sideways down on her back with her mouth gaping.

"What do you mean, the valley is gone?" Nabiki inquired.

"In a sense, it was never there." Kasumi stated, then she continued. "In ancient times there was only one unremarkable spring on the mountain that later surrounded the valley."

"Don't you mean mountains?" Nabiki emphasized the s.

"Of course not. The spring grew until it became the valley that the others have visited."

"Wait a minute! I've been there and it sure didn't look like it was only surrounded by one mountain!" Akane protested.

"That was just an effect of the spatial distortion created by its intense magical aura. Have you ever looked at it with magically enhanced sight?"

"No." Conceded Akane. "But how did it become so powerful? You said it was just a normal spring, right?"

"Indeed. It only became magic when the egg of an dragon fell into the spring, The dragon hatched and drowned and its body lured a phoenix bird to the spring. When it tried to eat the hatchling in the water, the Phoenix was extinguished. These two contrary magic powers sank to the ground of the spring and gave it necromantic power."

"Wait a second. Necromantic? Doesn't that mean death magic?" Nabiki asked.

"Nabs, the cursed people get the bodies of living beings that _drowned_ in the springs." Akane drawled. "They are wearing bodies of the dead."

"Hey, isn't there a spring of the drowned Akane?"

"Even Phoenix people know CPR." Akane answered stiffly. Inwardly she shuddered. She still had nightmares of that day.

"Okay. And how did that thing get bigger?"

"Because of the hydrologic cycle." Answered Kasumi. "The magic water flows down into the oceans, evaporates and some of it returns to Jusenkyo and makes it stronger. And the bigger Jusenkyo got, the more water did it sent away and the more it got back. It reached a sort of magical critical mass – sorry Akane, I am trying to explain it to Nabiki – at the beginning of the time-loops and connected itself to various other magic phenomena, including the Saotome curses. This is also why we have seen so many magical artifacts arrving in Nerima. At the end of the loops it had once again reached that critical mass, thanks in part to the creation of another spring, the death of Saffron the Phoenix king and the flooding of the valley."

"The phoenix dies in flames and is reborn from the ashes…" murmured Akane. "It created a chronological cycle?"

"Indeed, Akane-chan."

"So, why us? We weren't cursed by Jusenkyo and we don't have any other magic on us." Nabiki hesitated. "Don't we?"

"Because we are closest to Ranma-kun and female. If Saotome-san had defeated the Phoenix, there would be three very unlucky Pandas stuck in the loops."

"So, all the magic is gone. But where did it go? Such an amount of power …" Akane wondered. "And why three Pandas, didn't you mean six?"

"Both questions have the same answer. I've used the magic to create the time-loops for the other three."

"But they were already in loops! You said so yourself!" Nabiki protested.

"And that's why I knew it would work." Explained Kasumi serenely.

Nabiki wasn't impressed. "Explain."

Akane on the other hand was. "You used the Moebius Maneuver? With that kind of power? Wow!"

"Indeed, Akane-chan. I am happy to hear how advanced your studies are."

"Well, I did specialize in time magic because of the loops…"

"I said explain!" Nabiki interrupted.

"Please, let me." Akane asked Kasumi, then turned to Nabiki. "Imagine time as a ball made of rubber bands all wound around each other…"

Kasumi was shocked. "You follow the timey-wimey ball theory?"

"Don't tell me you are a fan of the silly string can theory." Akane said dismissively.

"The concept of compressed time that has to pass the present "valve" to become the past certainly explains time-bursts and bubbles much better than Dr. Whatshisnames stuff." Kasumi argued heatedly. "I am pretty sure he just made that up to impress his girlfriend."

"Oh, you are…" Akane wanted to counter but was interrupted by Nabiki.

"You know what, you two? Forget it, I am going." Nabiki said and went.

Akane looked like she wanted to continue arguing, but then she thought of something else.

"I have met a Ranma who was looping, too! Does that mean you missed some part of the magic?"

"I think I have a theory regarding him. Please, tell me what he was like."

"Well, he was sort of still the same. He was a better martial artist than me, he knew more magic, more science and has seen more of the world. He admitted that he had done some mean things during the loops, but it didn't seem to be worse than anything he has done before. And there were those tales from the fused loops – he has met ninjas, shinigami, spaceships, magical girls, robots, mechas, lots of stuff. There seem to be worlds out there that are like something from a manga."

"So, in essence he was still the same as before, but he only knew more?"

"Erm, yes."

"All the things he knew – you've seen them before and learned them since, right?"

"Yes, what do you…"

"And these people he met, has he demonstrated anything he could have only learned from them?"

"No, but…"

"And these bad things he has done in the time-loops, they were similar to your pranks and you could forgive him because of that?"

"Yes. What are you getting at, Kasumi?"

"Are you sure you didn't use your magic to make him up?"

"What! No! I don't have the power to do that! The only thing I know with that kind of power is that one wishing scroll!"

"The one in the Danjon to Doragon mansion?"

"Yes! And I can't reach it anymore. It can only be used once by any user."

"I know that. I've used that wishing scroll once, too. And I can tell that you used it, but even for me it is impossible to know what kind of boon you asked for."

"So you think I used the scroll to make up that Ranma?" Akane asked hesitantly. "But I can't remember doing that."

"Can you remember your wish?"

"No! But that doesn't mean you're right!" Akane yelled desperately. She wanted that Ranma back.

There was an uncomfortable silence and both of them tried to think of something to say.

Finally Akane asked: "Are you sure it's over?"

Kasumi answered optimistically: "We will know in a year, for sure, ne? Until then you will have a loop with an uncursed fiancé."

The End (?)

* * *

This is of course not the canon ending of the time-loops. Only Innortal can write that.

I guess Nabiki's behavior and different level of knowledge deserve an explanation. She has spent most of the loops collecting trivia for blackmail and an easy life, while her sisters have _learned_. And Nabiki had a constant adversary in form of a clueless Ranma leading to her paranoia. She had no idea about that butterfly.

[Suraihando – sleight of hand]

[goze –blind female beggar who sings or plays shamisen]

[yashi – showman, charlatan, faker, quack]

[danjon to doragon – dungeon and dragon (as depicted in western myths)]

Well, this is very probably the last chapter of this former spamfic collection. I was very surprised to find a sort of resolution, even if I only used the Tendo sisters. The only other idea I had for this is a Kodachi fic that could only be posted at adultfanfiction. I hope you are not too disappointed to find that this was basically all set-up and after-fight exposition. Sorry.

Anyway, thanks for reading. The Ranma chapter is now its own page with other fused/FUBARed loops.

* * *

A variation of Kasumi's story. I couldn't imagine her fighting, so I made up an excuse why no other wizard noticed her before she became a virtual goddess.

**Kasumi without enemies**

Kasumi noticed that despite her growing proficiency no other mages came to challenge her like the martial artists who would come to the dojo to meet her brother-in-law, that came without him ever advertising his skills. Finally she found the answer to this riddle in the diary of a long deceased wizard.

According to his observations, the aura of practitioners of the magic arts accumulated itself in the first two and a half year of studies before it became visible for the senses of others. During that time other magicians who lived in the area could not find the aura's center until it was finally established. Like mist covering a valley in the night, its center could only to be seen by someone standing on the surrounding mountains, but the metaphorical traveller would be lost when he came down to the valley.

This had only minimal bearing on the abilities of the practitioners themselves, but made their auras practically invisible for other magic users during their initial stages. The wizard had mused that it was a gift of the gods to give the young time to prepare themselves before they were tested, but he had neither proof, nor had he any idea which part of the pantheon to thank.

Like raindrops, magic knowledge gathered itself in the hands of Kasumi. And over the time-loops the collected raindrops became a puddle, became a pond, became a lake, became a sea, became an ocean.

This is not to say that she spend her time only learning the mystical arts. She gave her household duties to some sprites that she had conjured and went out to meet other people and occasionally helped them with words and deeds and gave them what they needed but not what they wanted.

At the beginning people had to talk to her directly about their problems, but as her powers grew she learned to see problems from far away and finally she could listen to all people while they were at their home asking for an answer to their problems. And when she began to answer their calls the prople started to give more than just words of thanks.


End file.
